Mike DeCourcy

INDIANAPOLIS - There were so many painful elements of Illinois' 89-81 loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals: the fact it came in double-overtime, all the trash-talking on the court, that it was the third time OSU vanquished the Illini and the small matter of their precarious position relative to the NCAA bracket.

The Illini hardly need one more.

Don't think that'll stop us.

The simple truth is Illinois was eliminated from this tournament (and possibly the bigger one) by a team that is the closest thing we've seen in more than 20 years to a reincarnation of the eternally beloved Flyin' Illini.

The 1988-89 Illinois squad remains legendary among those who've followed the college game for a while: Nick Anderson, Steve Bardo, Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle and Lowell Hamilton. Every player stood between 6-4 and 6-7. No small guys. No real big guys. Just a lot of versatile players who could do whatever was necessary to win.

It's like that with these Buckeyes, as well: 6-8 Dallas Lauderdale, 6-7 Evan Turner, 6-6 Jon Diebler, 6-5 David Lighty and 6-4 William Buford.

"You don't have a lot of height, but there are a lot of guys who do a lot of things well," said Big Ten Network analyst Jimmy Jackson, who was a senior in high school 21 years ago. "That would be the similarity."

Special feature Big Dance hopefuls Highlights which teams are in good shape for the NCAA tournament — and which are starting to sweat NBCSports.com

Ohio State coach Thad Matta, a native of Hoopseston, Ill., was a student at Butler back then. He had played against Hamilton in their high school state tournament and knew Battle from a summer team. And back in the offseason when he talked to Turner about converting to point guard, Bardo was a model he used to describe how Turner could, at his size, succeed at that position.

"I think we probably shoot the ball a little better, because the 3-point line wasn't as prominent back then," Matta said. "They were more athletic. Defensively, they could swarm you. That was a great basketball team."

Is Ohio State? We might have a clearer picture of that if Turner had not missed six games (OSU lost three) with a broken back. The Buckeyes are in the Big Ten final for the fourth time in five years, though, and are the only one of the league's tri-champions that will have a chance to claim both the league's titles.

Saturday's game demonstrated the value of having so many basketball players on the floor. Some teams have size, and some have athleticism, but Ohio State has guys who can make plays.

The Buckeyes trailed for much of the game and fell behind by 11 in the second half, but they recovered with a 20-0 run during which the breadth of their gifts was on full display. There was a nifty drive by Buford, a 3-pointer by Turner, another from Diebler after Lighty scrambled for a loose ball and swept the ball out behind the arc.

Near the start of that surge, Matta switched his team into a 1-2-2 zone press. On the first trip against it, Illinois broke through easily and got the ball to 6-9 Mike Davis in the left corner – the baseline was as open as the Illinois prairie, but Davis passed the ball back to the perimeter and the game was turned firmly in OSU's direction. Matta said there were too many great plays to recall them all.

Slideshow   Buckeyes' best Check out Evan Turner in action for the Ohio State Buckeyes. NBC Sports

"They felt the comeback," Turner said. "We had momentum switch a little bit, and we definitely smelled blood, and they stopped attacking after a while. We just kept attacking, kept coming."

Illinois has played with great urgency, with the sort of desperation to be expected from a team that was fighting for its NCAA Tournament life. But Turner clearly bothered by the Illini's trash talk when the game was in their favor, suggesting they were "front-runners" and "running their mouths too much." Illinois seemed to think the problem had originated on the other side.

It wasn't an easy day for Illini. So much pain. And now, the waiting.

SportingNews.com Conradt, Hurley, Keady to receive Lapchick Award Indiana hoops powers to play in Crossroads Classic ESPN will have another full day of hoops Field for 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off Kentucky wins Canadian exhibition